To complete this discussion :
Hardware MTU = Ethernet Mac Header (14 bytes) + L2-MTU
or for some manufacturers :
Hardware MTU = Ethernet Mac Header (14 bytes) + L2-MTU + FCS CRC trailer (4 bytes)
And the true level 1 hardware MTU is something like this :
True Hardware L1 MTU = Ethernet Sync Preamble (8 bytes) + L2-MTU + Ethernet Mac Header (14 bytes) + CRC trailer (4 bytes)
So the Hardware L1 MTU is 8 or 12 bytes more compared to the hardware MTU advertised by manufacturers.
For 1000 Base-T ports the true hardware L1 frame length is never smaller than 520 bytes to enhance synchronization (416 bytes for 1000 Base-X). This is permitted through a Carrier extension filling the frame to a minimum of 416 or 520 bytes depending about the fiber or copper nature of the port.
This allow for frames as small as 64 bytes. This bloc is discarded at the destination, like the preamble header and the FCS CRC trailer.
frame extension.jpg
In the end, for simplicity, the user can rely on L2-MTU (the one defined by Mikrotik) for path maximum size calculations, because all other blocs in the frame (Preamble, FCS CRC, Carrier Extension) are purely hardware blocs, automatically added at the transmitter end, and discarded at the receiver end.
Hardware MTU is probably used by manufacturers for marketing reasons, because its value is higher, but it is not useful and even very confusing for the end user that should concentrate about L2-MTU, like defined by Mikrotik.
Even worse, Hardware MTU as advertised by some manufacturers is in accordance with nothing. It's smaller than the true L1 frame length, and bigger than the L2-MTU. This add to the confusion and is a perfect tool to make the MTU learning curve very hard for beginners.
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